Since August 2008, jumbo mortgages have been expensive and lending standards have been restrictive. But jumbo fixed rates now have dropped three-quarters of a percentage point since the beginning of the year, and standards have been easing.
"Over the last six to eight weeks, a lot of the big banks have been getting back into jumbo lending," says Dan Green, loan officer for Waterstone Mortgage in Cincinnati. "Now you can make a 20 percent down payment and go jumbo."
For most of the last two years, fixed-rate jumbo loans have been rare. Instead, lenders have offered jumbos with adjustable rates, such as 5/1 ARMs. And lenders generally have required borrowers to make down payments of 25 percent or 30 percent, or to have that much equity in a refinance.
Now, Green says, more lenders are offering fixed-rate jumbos with 20 percent equity.